AQUEOUS AGENCIES. 79 



of rinsing out by fresh water, until it would become 

 entirely fresh. For the same reason, it is believed that 

 the Black and Baltic Seas, if cut oif, would become fresh, 

 while the Gulf of California and the Mediterranean would 

 not only remain salt, but would become more and more 

 salt until they would deposit. Lake Ohamplain, as we 

 shall see hereafter (p. 391), was once connected with the 

 Atlantic. When first separated, it was of course salt, but 

 by the continual pouring in of fresh water and pouring 

 out of the mixture, the lake was gradually rinsed out and 

 became fresh. 



It is evident, then, that we ought to find saline lakes 

 only in very dry climates ; for, in most places, the rain 

 falling on land-surface is far greater than the evapo- 

 ration from the same, the excess finding its way to the 

 sea by rivers. It is evident, also, that we ought to find 

 every degree of salination of salt lakes. Lake Walker, 

 Nevada, and Lake Tulare, California, are but slightly 

 saline, while Great Salt Lake, Utah, is already saturated 

 and beginning to deposit ; and many examples of dried-up 

 salt lakes are found all over Utah and Nevada. It is 

 evident, again, that only the last reservoir, even of the 

 same river water, will be salt. Thus the same water runs 

 into Lake Tahoe, and thence through Truckee Eiver into 

 Pyramid Lake but no farther. Lake Tahoe is deli- 

 ciously fresh, while Pyramid Lake is salt. So, also, the 

 same water runs into Lake Utah, and thence, through 

 the River Jordan, into Great Salt Lake, but no farther. 

 Lake Utah is fresh ; Great Salt Lake is a saturated 

 brine. 



Why the Ocean is Salt. The ocean is a reservoir 

 without outlet. But the question of its saltness is a little 

 different from that of salt lakes ; for much of the rocks 

 of the earth's crust was formed at the sea bottom and 

 salted by the sea ; and the salt is only regathered in salt 

 lakes. Nevertheless there can be no doubt that the sea 



